That Loving Feeling
by The-KLF
Summary: "You can be my wingman any time." An AU insert between Cops & Robbers (4x07) and Heartbreak Hotel (4x08).
1. Chapter 1

"Hey girl, you ready to go?" Lanie strolled into the bullpen and stopped at Beckett's desk as Kate signed the last of her paperwork.

"Go? Go where?" Castle was all ears.

"Girls night, Castle, nothing you'd be interested in," Beckett quipped as she grabbed her bag, but Rick looked the opposite of disinterested.

"Where are you going? Club? Bar? ...staying in?"

"As if we'd tell you, Writer Boy!" Lanie put her arm through Kate's and they sauntered off to the elevator, oblivious to Castle's frowning.

Rick looked over his shoulder to see Esposito frowning in the girls' direction almost as much as he was. He got up and trotted over to his secondary chair by Ryan's desk. "Do you know where they're going, Espo?"

The detective waited until the elevator doors closed on the two women before he directed his attention to Castle. "So long as they keep to their usual arrangements, yes."

Rick rested his chin on his fist, "Do tell."

Esposito leaned in conspiratorially. "Well... first they're going to Beckett's to pick up her stuff, then they'll go to Lanie's to get changed and do their hair, that kinda thing. And then they'll get a cab to Employee's Only, you know that bar on Hudson Street?" He leaned back in his chair, resting the back of his head in his linked hands with a self-satisfied smile.

"Oh really..." Rick smiled smugly in return. "Espo, did I just hear you say that you're in need of a wingman tonight?"

He laughed, "Sure, why not? Let me finish up this paperwork, then we can go. Need to give the girls a head start."

Rick mulled it over and came up with another suggestion, "How about you come over to the loft when you're ready, we can have a drink there before we go catch them up."

"Sure, sounds good man. See you there."

* * *

Kate and Lanie spilled out of their cab in fits of giggles, and Lanie gazed up and up till she could finally find Kate's face. "Damn girl, how do you walk in those heels? Next time, you're wearing flats."

They went straight to the bar when they went in and took two stools that had just been vacated. The bartender came over to them almost immediately, and the girls requested a Bloody Mary each. He showed off, flinging the cocktail shaker around, arm muscles flexing impressively. With a final knock of his elbow, he unlocked the shaker and poured their drinks, giving Lanie a wink as he placed the glasses in front of them. She fanned herself with her hand when he'd turned his back, and Kate laughed.

"What would Esposito say if he saw you flirting with that guy? Lanie, you're shameless!"

"What Javier doesn't know won't kill him, and if you tell him, Kate Beckett, you're a dead woman," she laughed in reply.

They were chattering over the music and hubbub of the bar for another couple of drinks when there was a slight commotion in the corner where there was a DJ set up. Some people were clapping and cheering, but the girls couldn't see over the tops of people's heads to find out what was going on. Kate turned back to face Lanie again, which gave her the perfect view of her friend's shocked face when she recognised the voice that came over the music and talking.

"You never close your eyes anymore when I kiss your lips..."

"Kate, it's Javi!"

Kate clapped her hand over her mouth as she barked a laugh, but her eyes betrayed her when another voice sang the next line.

"And there's no tenderness like before in your fingertips..."

"Oh no... Do we run?" Kate looked pleadingly at Lanie who was shaking her head.

"Too late."

The boys started to sing together, "You're trying hard not to show it, but baby, baby I know it..." And then the rest of the bar joined in for the chorus. The girls turned as bright red as their drinks though the guys hadn't even come over towards them yet, but they knew it was only a matter of time.

Sure enough, they began to slowly meander over during the second verse, the onlookers going quiet, mostly to let them continue but also a little because hardly anyone knew the words. By the time they got to the chorus, they were standing right in front of Kate, who looked like she wished the ground would swallow her up, and Lanie, who was starting to enjoy the attention a little.

As Rick began the first line of the bridge, he kneeled right in front of the women, and Espo joined him on the second line, but it was their next line that caused Kate to start to listen to the lyrics properly for the first time. "We have a love, a love, a love you don't find every day... so don't, don't, don't let it slip away..." Rick was looking at her so sincerely that she was sure she'd never seen someone look so serious while doing karaoke. This was not something he'd done on a whim. He'd thought this through, decided to test her and her wall.

More like taken an enormous sledgehammer to it.

Finally – _finally_ – they finished, the crowd roaring with delight when Lanie hopped off the stool to give Espo a steamy kiss. But Kate was certainly not going to follow her lead, resolutely staying where she was with the most pointed eyebrow she could muster. Rick simply waggled his eyebrows in reply and the familiarity made a radiant smile come over her face, the smile that she didn't give to anyone else but him.

The smile that made him brave.

He stepped over to her and crowded her space a little, not giving her a chance to acclimatise before he took her hand in his and feathered the gentlest of kisses across her knuckles. "Can I get you a drink?"

Esposito interrupted, "I'll have a beer, man, thanks. Lanie, you want another of... whatever that is?"

"Nuh uh, it's margaritas time!"

Rick hadn't let go of Kate's hand, neither had moved at all in fact, so he chanced another, firmer, kiss to her knuckles. She closed her eyes, her mascara-heavy eyelashes fluttering at her cheeks as the sensation overwhelmed her. It was almost too much to take in.

* * *

"Whose dumbass idea was that stunt then?" Lanie's grin was a mile wide as she wrapped her arm around Esposito's waist. Kate stared him down until he gave in.

"Totally Castle's plan, nothing to do with me..." Rick's face dropped.

"Nothing?! The singing was totally your idea, dude!"

"You asked me if I wanted a wingman tonight, you were clearly trying to plant the seed in my head."

Castle shuffled on his feet and shrugged slightly. "Yeah, well... I might've watched Top Gun a couple of nights ago." He chanced a sidelong glance at Kate. Her lips were pursed together as she tried not to burst out laughing, her eyes sparkling at him. It was all he could do to not drop his glass, never mind hold it together and keep his cool. He looked at Lanie instead before he did anything stupid.

It didn't help. Her grin hadn't diminished in the slightest and now she was giving him a look that told him she knew it all. Not just Kate's girl-talk-secrets, but all the ones he was desperately trying to hide too. He buried his nose in his scotch and studied the bottom of the glass through the golden liquid.

"Drink up, Castle," Kate told him as she finished her own drink. "Since you've both crashed our girls' night, it's only fair you get to join in the next part." Lanie copied Kate and grabbed Esposito's hand.

"Dancing!" she called over her shoulder as she dragged Javi onto the dance floor. Castle watched them in a haze as the crowd swallowed them up. He turned back to Beckett who leaned back with both elbows on the bar and slowly raised a questioning eyebrow. He threw his scotch down his throat and gripped the glass hard as it burned its way down. She took the glass from him while his eyes were scrunched up, but her hands on his chest opened them, and she guided him backwards onto the dance floor.

* * *

A/N: Just a little two-shot I've been working on since I went abroad a while ago. Hope you like it so far, chapter two will be up when I've finished it!


	2. Chapter 2

They've danced together before. Sort of. He wasn't proud to admit that he just stood there that last time and let her move around in front of him, after all he has been known to cut a pretty decent rug once in a while. But undercover Beckett was often tricky to deal with and he really hadn't wanted to take any chances by putting his hands on any, uh, restricted areas.

Tonight, though... Oh tonight... _Tonight_, he was going to put his hands on her and he was pretty sure she wasn't going to shoot him for it.

Or as sure as he could be when it came to Kate Beckett.

Especially when the Kate Beckett in question had her hands flat against his chest, whose fingertips were pressing – no, scratch that – _caressing_ his silk shirt. Or perhaps the muscles under his silk shirt. He took a chance, figuring that the waist isn't a restricted area, and snaked his hands around to her back, pulling her to him. As their bodies connected, from shoulder to knee and every millimetre in between, he felt rather than heard her sharp intake of breath, and there was no mistaking the way her eyes widened momentarily. And there was no mistaking that his response was the same.

* * *

She knew this was a bad idea. As soon as she stepped into his space and took the glass from his hand, she knew. And yet, there they were, bodies pressed to one another in public when she just wished they were somewhere else, somewhere private. Her own apartment would be ideal, in fact.

She slowly reached her arms around his neck and pressed her chest to his as she rose up to speak into his ear. She felt his fingers flex across the satiny material of her dress and she faltered, her breath spilling over his neck.

"Kate..." he whispered in her ear, and though she couldn't hear him over the music she felt the consonants, responded in a minute way that only he would notice. "Kate," he repeated, louder this time as he continued, "Let's get out of here."

She nodded, the tiniest nod in the history of silent affirmatives but it's all he needed. As he moved away, she felt the sudden loss of his body against hers more acutely than she would ever admit, but she was certain it wouldn't be long until he was back where he belongs, by her side, in her arms, between her legs.

How she has longed for him.

She pulled her phone out from her bra and texted Lanie, _Going home – call you tomorrow_. She held it in her hand until she got to the cloakroom, putting it in her purse as he grabbed her coat and then clutched her free hand, clasping it as tightly as she was clasping his.

* * *

He waved down a cab and was overcome with the strangeness of the situation, how it didn't feel all that strange at all. It was inevitable, him and Kate. Like moths to each others flames.

"Where to, folks?"

At least the cabbie was friendly. He looked to her with a small smile as she answered with her address and they lapsed into a charged, yet easy, silence for a while. Their fingers were still intertwined and neither wanted to be the first to untangle them. He began to ghost a trail over the back of her hand with his thumb and she watched the movement, entranced and hypnotised until the cab came to a halt and she had to relinquish his hand so he could get his wallet.

She got out of the cab and plucked her keys from her purse as she waited for Rick to join her on the sidewalk. They walked up to her building side by side, shoulders brushing until they reached the door.

"Castle..." Apprehensively, she looked over to her partner. His hands were buried in his pockets and he looked worried... no, wait, not worried. More like nervous. Huh. "Castle," more determined this time, and he finally made eye contact. "Are you okay?" He looked at his shoes again, so she reached out to gently press her fingers to the crook of his elbow. "Rick?"

Suddenly, as if her words had unlocked the last barrier in his mind, he tugged his hands from his pockets and planted them firmly on her hips as he pressed her against the brickwork by the door. He crowded her body with his and didn't second guess himself as he leaned over to kiss her. Kate's lips were parted on a gasp and he couldn't stop the moan that rumbled through his chest when her tongue touched his. He felt her arms winding around his shoulders and the cold sharpness of her keys tickled at his neck.

She moved back a little, her eyelashes fluttering over her cheeks as she whispered against his lips, "Let's go upstairs."

* * *

She wondered if they'd gone back in time when they were in the elevator. They hadn't stood this far apart in enclosed spaces since he'd first started shadowing her. But she knew he was trying to keep in control of his own actions, and she was glad of his self-restraint. She really didn't want one of her neighbours finding them crawling up one another if the doors opened earlier than expected.

But seriously, could this elevator be any slower?

Kate was nearly growling by the time the doors finally opened on her floor and she lunged out of them as soon as the gap was wide enough for her to fit through. Rick trailed along behind, a smug smirk on his face, glad he wasn't the only one desperate for some privacy. He caught up with her at her front door, crowding her again as she fumbled with the keys, his hands braced either side of the door frame. It took almost all she had not to drop the keys and turn around into his embrace.

As she opened her front door, her phone chimed. She retrieved the device from her purse on auto-pilot, thumbing over the screen to read the new message from Lanie. _You got Castle with you?_ Kate raised an eyebrow at that, and inclined her head to the side a little. Rick peered over her shoulder. "How are you going to answer?" She almost turned her head entirely to peer at him in disbelief, but knew that if she didn't reply to Lanie all hell would break loose in the morning. So she shifted her weight over to one hip as she thought about it, and then quickly tapped her answer. _We left at the same time. Sorry for skipping out early on you, it's been a long week. I'll call tomorrow._

"Subtle, detective... I'd be worried you're ashamed of me if I didn't know any better." Kate put her phone and purse down on the side table by the door before she turned and put her hands on his shoulders, regarding him solemnly.

"Rick, I would never be ashamed of you." She allowed him a couple of seconds triumph before continuing, "Your occasionally infuriating antics, however..." She slid her hands from his shoulders up to cup his jaw, her thumbs tracing symmetrical patterns over his skin as she held his gaze. She wanted to say more, she always wanted to say more, but words were his and she felt hers to be inadequate in comparison.

"Someone has to keep you on your toes, Beckett." He pulled her to him, lifting almost her entire weight so she was really on her toes. She giggled, wrapping her arms around his neck and pressing her cheek to his. She was relieved, thankful, and giddy to be finally taking the next step, and judging by the grin she could feel against her face, he was feeling the exact same way.

"Not that hugging in the foyer of my apartment isn't great, but why don't we move this to the sofa?" He let her gently slip down to the floor again with a quiet smile that made his eyes sparkle in the dim light. It was dazzling, the way his love for her poured out from those eyes, and she wondered how she could have denied herself this for so long.

He gently threaded his fingers through hers and let her lead the way across the apartment, biting his lip as she would when she dropped her eyes from his gaze with a blush rising over her cheeks. They sat in unison, their knees knocking together. He tipped her chin up with his free hand and gave her a cheeky grin.

"We could always just cuddle, Beckett..."

* * *

A/N: unexpectedly got this finished tonight. This is the end. Whatever happens next you will have to make up, because I don't want to write anything explicit (well, I don't want to _publish_ anything explicit...).


End file.
